Thom Browne, AW13, New York.
When the silhouette of a garment moves far enough away from the body, all the old pattern shapes become almost obsolete, and the garment needs to be dissected by a new set of panel lines. The Autumn-Winter 2013 collection by Thom Browne showed a perfect example of how traditional tailoring can be stylised to the point where new pattern cutting techniques are needed.
Much of the collection focused on a broad square shoulder which extended well above and beyond the usual shoulder point, essentially reshaping the body into a giant rectangular box. This silhouette was often created through panels that flowed across the flat front and back of the garment, which resulted in an arch shaped sleeve panel.
Another prominent silhouette was seen in the dresses with the accentuated hips. In these garments the dresses were often repanelled into a series of vertical panels that flowed down across the bust, narrowed at the waist and then widened to create the volume needed over the hips and into the skirt. The fabric was often cut on the bias for these panels to allow the fabric to be more fluid and to create softer shaping over the bulging hips.
Some of the voluminous skirts were also created by splicing the garments into horizontal panels so that the skirt was made from a series of circular shaped panels that were pieced together to create the masses of fabric.
Images from Vogue.co.uk»
